Things Worth Fighting For
by Star-e.Nite
Summary: There's a new woman who literally exploded her way into Sesshomaru's life. What does he do when the one being who has the ultimate power has the ultimate weakness that could come to effect the people he's in charge of protecting? my first fic. R&R.
1. Beginnings

Okay guys, this is my first fanfic ever, so be nice. I really hate flames more than a lot of things, so beware, if you decide to yell at me I just might yell right back; other than that I really am a nice person. And without further ado:

Disclaimer (this also applies to any and all future chapters of this story): I don't own Inuyasha.

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It was almost time, she could feel it. The spell was weakening. Soon, she'd be free; unfortunately said freedom would come just in time for the biggest challenge of her immortal life.

-0-

It was a fairly normal day in the life of the western lord. He was on his way to get Rin and Jaken, just having finished settling some issue or another with the lynx demons, there was always something wrong with them, and they could never seem to settle it on their own.

All in all, he'd been in better moods, and right now he was in no mood to have anything else disturb his day. That was the main reason for the extremely irritated streak in the middle of all the curiosity that was aroused when he felt and heard the enormous explosion of power a little to the north of where he currently was.

With a mental grimace and an inward sigh of resignation, he sprinted in the direction of the explosion, intent on making this investigation as brief as possible.

-0-

She almost wanted to laugh, after a hundred years, in the end all it took to burst the spell completely was a small prod, who would have thought. And though she didn't laugh she did grin as she sat up on the stone table that had been her self-imposed prison, and started to stretch.

Suddenly her attention was caught, her senses started prickling, whispering that there was a very powerful, slightly pissed demon speeding her way. However, she brushed it away, thinking that if they really wanted her dead then they might succeed for about a minute at most, and that wasn't anything to fret over. With that in mind she summoned her human disguise in order to throw whoever it was off a little more, and then went on stretching and fixing her dress, after all a hundred years left quite a few kinks in the neck and wrinkles in the outfit.

-0-

As Sesshomaru got closer he slowed his pace, and went into silent, prey-stalking mode in order to better sneak up on the newest object of his curiosity, whose back happened to be turned to him.

When he finally glimpsed her, he was torn between dropping his jaw in complete incredulity and laughing out loud, neither of which registered on his face in the end. There was no way a female could have exuded such power, and not only was she female but she also appeared to be human. There was no conceivable way this was real, to say nothing of possible; he would have been completely convinced that this was some kind of sick joke except that it wasn't his birthday, and he didn't know anyone who would dare pull such a stunt… well maybe Inuyasha, but he didn't posses the brainpower that it would take to think up a scheme this complex.

Despite being, as he thought, a natural impossibility, she wasn't totally unfortunate looking, from what he could see of her; in fact for a human she could almost pass for pretty (not that he would ever admit to feeling this way, in this lifetime or any other). Her hair fell to her mid-low back in large, graceful, black curls. Her figure was made up of a nicely proportioned hourglass shape, and her skin looked slightly tanned, enough to give her a healthy glow.

Her clothing was a style that was completely unfamiliar to him. It was a full-length dress, made of a silvery hanging fabric, the sleeves were tight all the way down until they widened around her hands. Had he been able to see the rest of her, he would have seen that the neckline came down to a modest V in the front, and that the dress was skin tight all down her torso till it came to the top of her hips where, after passing a small belt, it started increasing in fabric amount; this gain in fabric was continuous to the end of the skirt where the final circumference, if stretched out would easily allow her to run full tilt without revealing much at all. The belt was loosely fastened at the front with a green jewel that matched her eyes to perfection, and on her feet were dainty looking slippers (not the going to bed kind, almost like a flat Cinderella kind), that matched her dress. And lastly there was a little silver bracelet on her left wrist, and if one looked closely there were what appeared to be little charms hanging off of it at evenly spaced intervals.

As it was he waited, with ever dwindling patience, for her to sense his presence; he didn't think this was an unreasonable expectation as he had felt something akin to miko powers in the original explosion, and his was hardly a demon presence that was easy to hide.

Finally, he decided that she was taking entirely too long and so jumped down and walked to the edge of the clearing, and that last action ultimately got a reaction.

-0-

What was this person doing sitting in the tree behind her? If she didn't know better she would swear that they were checking her out!

'_Aha!' _At last they were moving (she always won the waiting game), and it seemed that they had stopped right at the edge of the clearing, _'hmm better put us both out of our misery.'_ and with that thought she turned…

-0-

He watched as she turned, none too soon, towards him, and felt a distant tug of familiarity when he saw her face.

An inaudible sigh later she looked him over with a, "and you are?"

"The Lord of these lands." And though none of what he was feeling came through in his voice she could still sense the anger percolating under the surface.

After a quick glance around, she clarified, "the Western lands?" Her answer was silence. Then, continuing to look at her surroundings, she commented, "I was under the impression that lords were traditionally older." She saved him from deciding whether or not to respond by continuing. "However, that's irrelevant, as I was asking for your name, not your title."

"What you were asking for is of no importance to this Sesshomaru. The question is who are _you_, that would dare intrude upon my lands?" Why was it that her eyes widened when she heard his name? She probably just realized her mistake in talking to him so freely.

"First of all, I know for a fact, I was here long before they were your lands, so in all technicality you could be called the intruder." Seeing his far from pleased expression, she continued, "My name is Tenakia, Nakia for short. And you're Sesshomaru…" and with that last self addressed comment she stepped closer to him and peered into his eyes questioningly. What she was looking for, only she would know, what he did know was that he didn't like the look she was giving him.

Finally, with a slight nod, she stepped away.

"Well, it's been an interesting experience… meeting you, Sesshomaru, Lord of the Western Lands. However, I have places to go and people to see, farewell." And with a slight nod of the head she left him standing in the clearing with only his ever-growing treasury of questions for a companion.

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	2. Memories

And here's chapter two, let me know if you have any helpful suggestions or insights, and beyond that just enjoy!

Last time:

_"Well, it's been an interesting experience …meeting you, Sesshomaru, Lord of the Western Lands. However, I have places to go and people to see, farewell." and with a slight nod of the head she left him standing in the clearing with only his ever growing treasury of questions for a companion._

-0-

Nakia let down her disguise as soon as she was far enough away from Sesshomaru, what a relief, it was surprisingly draining. In fact, it was amazing she had the brain power to let it down; overall, her mind was in little better shape than Sesshomaru's as she walked away, except that she already knew who he was and she had figured out where she knew him from as well.

A small, slightly sad, smile appeared as she thought back to the day they had originally met all those years ago…

Flashback

A girl, that looked to be around the age of ten, lay in the middle of a beautiful, spring-filled clearing that had a little brook running through the middle of all the young flowers, and reawakening grass. The black of her hair contrasted diametrically with the silver of her dress. She sat up when she felt, and then saw a young demon boy, about her same age, enter the clearing from her right.

He scrutinized her with apparent coldness, but she could feel the curiosity and hint of excitement the he was trying so hard to hide. And she was sure he could smell her curiosity from across the clearing as well.

He didn't seem to know how to start a conversation in the middle of all the awkwardness so she gave it a little shove with a, "hi, what's your name?"

"I am Sesshomaru, the heir to the lordship of these lands." He replied with all the pride someone the human equivalent of ten could muster.

"If you're the heir shouldn't you have some bodyguards or something?" She had to wonder what someone as important as him was doing out here in the middle of nowhere all alone, and now talking to someone like her; not that she had a low opinion of herself, but normally the royalty never descended from on high unless there was absolutely no other option, or so she thought.

"This is part of my training for Lordship, one must know the lands if one is to rule them." _Oooook, that was unexpectedly profound, I wonder where he read it._ She thought after his little explanation.

"So, how long are you supposed to be out in the forest?"

"This was a week-long training session, I'm supposed to return at the end of the day. I was searching for something to occupy my time until then, as it would be unthinkable to return early and I have already completed all of the assigned tasks." _Hmm, well that's a fancy way of saying 'I'd love to hang out with you till I have to go.' Well, he does seem decent, and I was getting bored… maybe for just a few minutes…_

"Well, you're welcome to stay here with me… if you're sure you have nothing better to do."

"That would be acceptable." and with that he sat down next to her three feet away.

"So what kind of demon are you?"

"I come from a line of the most powerful inu youkai." _Was that bragging I heard…_

And that was how they spent the rest of the day, her asking questions and him answering them, until he felt comfortable enough to ask some of his own. She even got him to smile, like a big grin! Though she couldn't get him to take his shoes off and put his feet in the stream. Oh well, baby steps. Until, at the end of the day, he said he had to go, and that he'd see her as soon as he could. The real regret at his going came when she realized that she'd never gotten a chance to tell him her name…

End Flashback

She smiled again at the dream-like memories. '_Who would've thought that I'd actually see him again, after all these years, and in just enough time to possibly lose him forever; jeeze, I just love how life works out.'_

-0-

"Hey, Inuyasha, there're some jewel shards heading our way." Kagome called up to the half demon leading their crew.

"And I'm getting the feeling that this person is also quite powerful." Added Miroku.

'_Ah wonderful, I was in the mood to pound something. All this walking is getting boring.' _Thought Inuyasha, as he processed the news. "Which way?" was all he said though.

"They're just up the road. It feels like the person is just walking calmly towards us." Kagome replied.

"Calmly my arse, be ready."

Although he was disappointedly surprised to see only an attractive young woman crest the hill and then continue calmly walking toward them, just as Kagome had said.

As she got closer he decided that the best way to deal with this apparently calm, extremely powerful stranger was to be as loud and overbearing as possible. And that was the reason for his deafening demand of, "What do you want?" while he placed himself between her and the rest of the group.

"I'm looking for the miko of the Shikon." She replied with the placating tone one would use with a 2-year-old about to throw a tantrum, and then turned directly to Kagome.

Kagome decided that anyone who put up with Inuyasha's bad side with so much grace, while still managing to ask politely couldn't be all bad. And while the marking on her forehead and the matching bands on her wrists, declared she was anything but human, her aura said that she wasn't a demon either, at least not like any demon Kagome had ever sensed, this left her to wonder exactly what this woman really was; but either way she was determined to trust her, at least for the moment.

"I'm Kagome, the Shikon miko." She said while stepping around Inuyasha.

Nakia looked at her thoughtfully for a minute, then, nodding her head she pulled a tiny charm off her bracelet, Kagome and crew watched in fascination as the charm grew into what looked like a little pouch. From this pouch she produced two jewel shards and handed them to Kagome, who immediately put them away.

"I was en route to a meeting when I came across a couple of stark raving mad demons, and deduced that these shards are not conducive to sane or lucid states of mind; so I took the liberty of relieving the demons of said shards, and then decided to return them to their protector." Explained Nakia. Deciding to ignore the dumbfounded looks she was getting, she bid them farewell.

And with that she turned to leave. However, Miroku decided it was his turn to put in his two cents.

Walking to stand at her side, he declared, "Oh, most fair maiden, would you consider doing me the honor of bearing my child?" But, if that wasn't enough of an attention grabber, he literally and figuratively gave her one when his hand came in contact with her rear end.

The moment she felt it, her eyes flashed a brighter green and all the cheer and politeness that had been present before, scrambled to a safe distance away. By that time Sango and her giant boomerang were well on their way to punishing the monk, but Nakia beat them by a mile.

She grabbed the monk by the neck and slammed him up against the nearest tree. Holding him at arms length, without yelling, and in a tone that left no doubt as to the extent of her vexation, said, "Monk, if I ever again hear of you're having touched another woman, not to mention me, in such a crude and uninvited manner, I will, personally, hunt you down and chop **off** the protruding parts of your body. Do I make myself clear?"

After taking about half a second to process the threat, he was nodding vigorously.

"Excellent, I'll be taking my leave now." She said, addressing the rest of the group, she acknowledged them with a polite nod and disappeared into the forest.

-0-

Nakia thought she'd had her share of trouble for the day, after having those snake demons with the shards attack her right after her encounter with some grotesquely large bugs (they didn't live very long after that, but they certainly managed to scare a couple years off her life in their last few seconds), and her uncomfortable 'remeeting' with Sesshomaru that morning, but she was soon to be proved wrong.

She'd been walking for some time when she came across a little clearing. The clearing was nothing out of the ordinary; it was what, or rather who, was in the clearing that caught her eye.

There was a little girl in an orange and black, checked kimono, a sleeping dragon demon, and a little imp wannabe. She looked into the trees for anyone she might have missed and it was then that she noticed the bear.

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	3. Q&A

Chapter Three: Q&A

Sesshomaru didn't stand long in the clearing after Nakia walked away.

With his mind eagerly at work on the incredible enigma that he had stumbled upon, he changed direction, and headed toward the place where one of the few people he knew he could trust to have answers resided.

'_One really must wonder what she is, no one has spoken to me so disrespectfully in decades… she claims to have been on my land long before it was my land, but she looked and smelled like a regular human, they don't ever live that long, unless she's some kind of sorceress. Hmm, I wonder if it's possible that she's a demon? If so, I've never seen a better concealing trick. But what kind could she be? That would make things very interesting…it looks as if I won't be bored for a while.'_ This was the line of his thoughts as he approached his destination.

"Lord Sesshomaru, it's been a while. What have you need of?"

"Good afternoon Bokusenou. I have come to inquire after a creature that I have encountered recently." As he finished he came to stop in front of the tree demon, giving him a stare that dared him to refuse this audience.

And with as much of a smile as a tree can muster he said, "Interesting, continue please."

"Her appearance and scent are that of any human, but her comments imply that she has surpassed the normal human life expectancy by hundreds of years, I was unaware that there were any spells that could be used to prolong human life."

"Intriguing, was she attractive?" _'I fail to see how that's relevant.'_

"Hn," was his response until he saw that Bokusenou wouldn't continue till he'd really answered; and so, as though he couldn't care any less he replied, "Not particularly… are you aware of a race of demons able to so completely mask their powers?"

"Hardly any demons, no, and no spells or incantations for prolonging life either, but I am having other ideas. Obviously her reaction to you was not expected, or you would not be in such a quandary over her now. Did she by any chance tell you her name?" _'why can't he just tell me what he thinks, I have no desire to be playing Twenty Questions right now.'_

"Tenakia." _'Well, if he's pushed he'll get ornery and then I might not know anything, best be patient… I hate being patient.'_

"Ah, yes. I knew her name would give away some of the most useful clues…" _'Like what? How her parents didn't completely hate her? I wish he'd commence with the point of all this.'_

"This Sesshomaru is waiting."

"Always the impatient one. It's curious, isn't it? A name that's a modified version of 'heaven demon' or 'heaven death.' I wonder… did she have any markings?"

"No." _'Well not any that I saw. _But you wouldn't mind looking closer, would you?_ Of course this Sesshomaru would mind, it would not be, in any context of the word, entertaining; I'm not at all interested……_Riiiiight._ I need to stop arguing with myself before they declare me clinically insane; that wouldn't be pleasant, it would be a shame to have to replace my medical staff… and I would mind looking, that's final.'_ And though the other part of his brain didn't respond it left no doubt that this discussion was far from over, and went smirking, back to it's corner.

"Well, without having seen her, and with no definitive evidence, I have only theories to impart, for the present." Bokusenou said, pulling Sesshomaru back into the present, extremely entertained and curious by his lapse in attention.

"Very well." _'Does he think I'll just walk away with nothing?'_

"I've heard legends about a creature of incredible power, born in the center of a volcano, called a phoenix. They are extremely rare, and are gifted with powers similar to that of a priest or priestess. Among these powers is the ability to morph themselves so that their powers and true appearance are hidden and they blend in and appear inconsequential, just as you described, and this is only the beginning of their abilities. It is possible that this female is one of these creatures. Your current knowledge however, is inconclusive at best. She could more easily be an exceptionally rare and adept kind of chameleon youkai, they are able to produce the exact same concealing effect and they are much more common. Another creature with the abilities you described would be a vampire, but by all accounts I've heard they are nocturnal." _'……Well, that was hardly what I was expecting, but I already knew that about chameleon youkai and I've heard of these vampires before.'_

"Does a phoenix have any other defining features?" _'Obviously this merits closer inspection. I think I'll take Rin home, her skills when it comes to stealth leave much to be desired, and I'm not certain what this Tenakia's reaction to being followed will be.'_

"Oh yes, many, but if a phoenix doesn't desire you to see anything but a normal human even you would have enormous trouble distinguishing her from an insignificant village priestess with a strange abhorrence for rain." _'That will make tracking her more difficult than I had planned, if her shape changes so drastically one can assume that her scent would change as well. Hmm, how to go about finding her…and what was that about rain?'_

"My thanks Bokusenou, this Sesshomaru must depart."

"You're quite welcome. Oh, and Lord Sesshomaru, if you find her again and, by some miracle, she does turn out to be a phoenix, I should like to meet her."

With a final nod of his head Sesshomaru walked out of the clearing and started towards the place where he had left his ward.

-0-

It was huge, hidden at the edge of the clearing in the large shadows created by the sunset, eyeing the girl with large red eyes, and it was then that she realized that no matter how fast the dragon could be up, awake, and fully functional, the bear would still get there sooner. _'Eww, I thought rabies was a regular animal thing, I didn't know that demons could get it.'_ Was one of the few things she was thinking as she sprinted toward the bear unclasping another of the charms from her bracelet.

She felt, with a smirk, the tiny charm grow into a full-size sword; he'd never even know what hit him. The girl had turned around and started to scream in her potent distress, just as Nakia landed the only blow she needed to decimate the creature completely. As the white glow on her sword diffused so did the dust that had once been a bloodthirsty bear._ 'Good thing it wasn't paying any attention to anything but the little girl or this might have required more effort. Speaking of the little girl…'_

She turned around to find one of the most adorable children she'd ever seen staring up at her with a mix of awe and horror flashing across face. She realized that she was disguise-less, Nakia had probably scared the girl more than the bear had; she doubted that the girl had ever seen a humanoid youkai, few humans ever had. Her ears, retracting claws, fangs, and wavy long hair, not to mention her markings, contradicted the impressions that her otherwise human appearance gave off.

"Hello, my name's Nakia." She said, by way of introduction, kneeling down to the girl's eye-level, and praying that she wouldn't scream and/or run away.

After studying Nakia for a moment longer the little girl responded with, "hi Nakia, my name's Rin."

"Well it's a pleasure to meet you Rin. Can I ask what you're doing in the middle of the forest so close to night?"

"Rin is waiting for Sesshomaru-sama to come back, he always does."

At the name of the infamous demon lord Nakia snapped her head back from her inspection of the woods behind the girl to look at her directly. _'Well his protective, fathering instincts definitely need work, if she really does travel with him. I guess that explains why she didn't freak out when she first saw me.'_ Knowing she couldn't, in good conscience, leave her alone again, she came to her decision to stay at least the night. Also because of that stupid conscience she would more than likely have another equally awkward meeting with the object of quite a few of her musings since her awakening.

Deciding to get back to business she asked, "Rin, have you had any dinner yet?"

"Nope, Jaken-sama usually gets my dinner, but Ah-Un accidentally stepped on him earlier and he still hasn't woke up."

"Well then would you like to get some dinner with me? I just saw some berry bushes and a little stream on my way through here."

"Sure!" was the excited answer, so when Rin took Nakia's offered hand they waked off into the woods on one side of the clearing.

The conversation, over their simple dinner of berries and fish, flowed nicely. Rin's conversation was innocently refreshing. She talked about her favorite flowers and how she braided the into necklaces and crowns, she talked about Ah-Un and his two different personalities, Jaken and his annoying voice, and her Lord Sesshomaru. However, this smooth flow only lasted till Rin looked up at Nakia and asked, "Are you a demon? You have ears, and teeth, and markings like a demon. What kind of demon are you? Are you an inu demon like Lord Sesshomaru?"

Nakia's mind sputtered to a halt. _'Should'a known she was smarter than she looked… what a bunch of extremely loaded questions and why didn't I leave that disguise on?' _ "Uhh, well, no I am not an inu demon, and though these markings look like a normal demon's, I can make them disappear unlike most demons. See?" And at that the bands on her wrists and the emblem on her forehead faded into nothing. And before Rin had time to notice that Nakia hadn't answered all her questions (or she thought Rin hadn't noticed) she mentioned that it was getting late, and that they should probably be getting to bed.

Sitting at the base of a nearby tree, preparing for a sleepless night of guard duty, Nakia was very surprised to hear Rin walk up to her and ask, "Nakia, do you think I could sleep by you, Ah-Un isn't very warm."

Having nothing else to say to the adorable girl using her best puppy-dog face she replied, "Of course," Lifted her arms and made room for Rin in her lap. As Rin happily snuggled in Nakia thought, _'Oh boy, lets hope I can leave before Sesshomaru gets back, I'm not quite sure how he'll like this and I don't really want to find out.'_ Little did she know that luck was against her that night.

For anyone who bothers to read author's notes, I do have a very good excuse for disappearing for a couple of months, I'm a Senior in High School this year and am frantically trying to get ready to go to college in the fall, apply for housing, register for classes (yes they do start this early), get scholarships, as well as get all my homework done so that I can graduate on time. So, in order to help make it up I made this chapter about 400 words longer than the others.

I would also like to publicly thank 'preistessofsorrow': you're a star and an inspiration, thanks! PS: I really hope this didn't embarrass you.

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